You're Gonna Miss This
by st.elmo-lover
Summary: College student Beth really didn't need the supernatural to add to her list of things to worry about but when Derek Hale, who had apparently been in her biology class all semester, becomes her new lab partner, it's almost inevitable.
1. Chapter 1

When Beth was little, maybe around ten, she couldn't wait to grow up. First, she couldn't wait to get to middle school. She would have her own locker to decorate, different teachers for every subject, and an actual lunch hour where she could do anything she wanted (except leave the premises).

Needless to say, middle school was a dud. Girls were cruel and at that age, boys started to figure out what kissing and sex were. She couldn't even count the number of times she had come home crying over something as silly as a girl outright telling her her shirt was ugly. But she moved on. Her skin got a little thicker.

When Beth reached 8th grade, she really couldn't wait to get to high school. She would get her license, a job, and there were homecoming and prom dances to look forward to. But, high school was only a little better than middle school. By her sophomore year, she had weeded out the popular bitches from the real girls and the fun guys from the uptight guys who only thought about sports and getting laid. The years were slow, even though she did everything she told herself she was going to. She got her license, even though she didn't have a car, and a job, even though most of the money she made went to helping her parents afford bills.

By senior year, she couldn't wait to get the hell out of dodge. She was utterly sick of two-faced people. Her high school was so small, she knew the name and face of every single person she graduated with. When she walked across that stage, she was almost tempted to give all those people the finger. She knew at that moment, on that stage looking out at the rest of her "classmates", that she was going to go somewhere and they would be stuck in this small town forever.

But now, at the ripe college age of 20, she really didn't understand why, in her youth, she wanted to grow up so damn bad. She missed the carefree days when she didn't have to pay rent, or electricity, or garbage. She missed just doing her chores and then going outside to play. Those were the days. Adult life just sucked.

She had been on her feet all day again and her calves were literally starting to burn. They always said that as long as you wore comfortable shoes, you could stand being on your feet all day. They were wrong. So wrong. It didn't matter what kind of shoes Beth wore, her feet, her legs, her back, they always hurt like a bitch by the time she got home. She had asked around the hospital she worked at, talked to all the nurses, and all of them told her she would get used to the pain because toughing it out and continuing to help people was worth it. She had sighed at the time. They always told her she would get used to things or to tough it out. Just like she would have to tough out all the shit the nurses gave her because she was only a lowly CNA. Granted, half of them did like her better now than before, but it had taken almost a year of working at the hospital and getting even tougher skin than before.

Today was Thursday. Thursdays were already Beth's toughest days of the week but on top of a long day, this Thursday she had lost a patient. A kind, elderly woman named Esther had been in with pneumonia. Esther's husband had died three years prior and she had even lost her thirty-year-old son a year ago to a drunk driver. The old woman was basically alone, but it was as if all of the shit life threw at her didn't get her down. Beth had asked her her secret and the old woman had simply replied that at her age, she knew it wouldn't be long before she saw both of them in a better place. At the moment, Beth (who had never been a crier in her life) had shed a few tears.

The woman had been in for a week and had even started to show signs of improvement. She had even had a nice little chat with Beth just that morning about how classes were going. Beth had checked her vitals, which seemed good, and continued on with her lowly CNA duties. Then, an hour before Beth's part time shift was due to be up, a code blue had rung throughout the walls of the hospital. Beth had followed the coding team, both curious to see who it was and wanting to help. Her heart had literally dropped to her feet when they turned into Esher's room. Beth knew then that it was over. Esther was DNR and she doubted that anyone would be able to bring her back from the prospect of seeing her family again.

After her hospital shift, Beth had spent the whole four hours of her shift at the café thinking about Esther and the woman's determination that there was some sort of life after death. Beth had never really experienced loss beyond the death of a family pet. All of her grandparents had been long gone by the time she was born. She had heard stories about them from her parents but she didn't really feel any connection to them, having never met them. Besides that, both of her parents were healthy and she was an only child so there really wasn't much to worry about there, either. On one hand, she felt lucky that she had never experienced loss but on the other, she wondered if a loss would hit her that much harder since she had never gone through it.

To say she was both mentally and physically exhausted by the time she reached her Biology night class, would be an understatement. She reeked of the coffee a stupid freshman had spilt down the front of her shirt and she had spent so much time thinking about Esther and life after death, that a familiar pain was taken up residence between her eyes. Conveniently enough she didn't have any pain medication on her and the professor she had tonight was one of the loudest she had ever had in her high school career.

The class was a total of four hours long. 6pm to 10pm. Two hours were devoted to lecture and another two were devoted to lab top. Night classes like these were invented for people like Beth who worked two jobs to support herself while going to school. This particular class was molecular biology. She hated the subject but it was a requirement for her minor in biology and certainly helped with her nursing degree.

The class was basically filled with nerds who loved science and either wanted to pursue a career in medicine or wanted to become a scientist of sorts. She had discovered that those seeking the scientist path tended to lack any sort of socializing skills. Unfortunately, her night class was filled with students who were interested in the scientist path. It made lab assignments particularly brutal.

She stumbled into her seat about five minutes before the class was set to begin. Most of the other students were already there, lap tops out and ready to be filled with notes. Beth found it easier to just stuff her books and notebooks into her purse. It was a lot lighter than carrying her MacBook around and she didn't have to worry about it getting stolen if it never left her locked apartment.

As she all but threw her notebook down on the table in front of her, she looked to her right to see her usual lap partner was MIA. It certainly wasn't a normal occurrence for the short, awkward boy to be missing but Beth certainly didn't care. If it meant she could spare herself the agony of going through tonight's lab with him then she was a happy person.

Just as Beth had thrown her purse on the seat next to her, the professor's voice boomed through the lecture hall. She winced and brought a hand up to rub at the spot between her eyes before hunching over and clicking her pen. Let the night begin.

An hour an a half later, the professor was finishing the lecture up a half hour early and Beth's headache had increased ten fold. She was in dire need of something to quell the pain but they still had lab to go through before she could officially leave. As the professor announced a short ten-minute break, she slid down in her chair to relax for a few minutes before moving her things to the lab. The only thing she could really think about now was sinking in a tub full of hot water for a nice long soak.

"Beth."

She half opened her eyes to stair at Professor Lee who was making his way towards her. She didn't bother to sit up, only opened her eyes the rest of the way and nodded at him. Professor Lee, despite his booming voice, was one of her favorites. She had frequented his lecture halls and labs. He liked teaching the night biology classes and whenever she could fit it into her schedule, she took his classes. He was short in stature, about 5'10 and his salt and pepper hair was always sticking out in different directions. His voice, though annoying tonight, was usually enough to keep her awake after long shifts at the hospital and café.

"I know you're severely disappointed your lab partner isn't here tonight," he said as he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and smirked down at her. He knew how much she hated this class because of the socially awkward students she had to share it with. They were both smokers and more often than not ran into each other in the small smoking area outside the biology building. Occasionally, they would even share the break for the class outside trading hospital stories. He was a doctor turned scientist turned professor. He had explained to her during one of their breaks that he had gotten tired of being a doctor and never putting his personal life first. He had switched to mainly research but after a few years realized it wasn't much better. As a professor, he could teach night classes and spend most of the time with his third wife and step kids.

"But, I would really love to see you working with someone else. I know you expected to get out of this one since tonight I'm only have you do the prep questions but we have someone else in the class that needs a lab partner as well." He smiled down at her as if to say he knew this was some sort of odd punishment but he was doing it anyway. She groaned quietly, for only him to hear and then nodded her head.

"If you insist," she muttered as she finally sat up and began collecting her things.

"How was your shift today?" He asked as an afterthought.

Beth worked her CNA shift at the same hospital Professor Lee had done his residency and he loved hearing some of the crazy stories she came in with. It reminded him of his younger years, he said.

"Don't really want to talk about it," she murmured as she kept her head down. She tried not to let the blush sink into her cheeks as she pulled her messenger bag over her shoulder and stood up.

"When you have a rough day," Professor Lee said quietly, "just remind yourself of how many of the good days overshadow the bad. The good days are why we do what we do."

She finally looked up at him then and took comfort in the small, comforting smile he was showing her. It was nice to have a professor who understood where she was coming from and just how tough her days could be. Most of her other professors had spent their days in classrooms instead of in hospitals. Beth wondered how they anyone really expected them to teach students if they couldn't apply what they knew to real life situations. She was a firm believer in those who can't do, teach. Except in Professor Lee's case.

"Lab station twenty-nine," he called out to her as she made her exit.

She sighed when she finally exited the classroom. She didn't even get to sit at her regular lab station. This day just sucked.

Twenty-five minutes later found Beth with her face stuffed in her lab book, reading over the pre-lab questions. After her talk with Professor Lee, she had been dreading meeting her makeshift lab partner for the day. And then lab had started and said lab partner still hadn't shown up. It gave her a little hope that she would be working on her own after all and could make a quick getaway when she was finally done answering her questions.

"Mr. Hale, I'm so glad you could finally join us."

Beth's head jerked up quickly, immediately deciding that Mr. Hale was no doubt her missing lab partner. Her mouth almost immediately dropped. Striding into the lab was the epitome of sex on legs. It was almost straight out the movies where some freaky, whack job fortuneteller tells a girl she will meet a tall, dark and handsome stranger. He was dressed from head to foot in black but somehow he pulled it off. The leather jacket it wore was just icing on the cake and suddenly, all of her thoughts about just wanting to get the lab over with, floated away.

"Beth will be your partner for tonight," Professor Lee explained as Mr. Hale made his way over to their lab station. "Play nice you two!" He seemed to add as an afterthought.

She repeatedly tried to tell herself to stop staring as he got closer but after a few seconds he was already right in front of her and she was still gawking like some teenager. At least, she decided, she had the good decency to blush. He dropped a motorcycle helmet on the table between them followed by a small duffle bag. He didn't seem to notice her outright staring and instead turned away from her to slide his leather jacket off. When he turned, she let herself take a long gander at his ass. But only long enough to decide she could probably bounce a quarter off of it.

She shook her head immediately after the thought passed her mind and her blush deepened even further. She wasn't really sure what was wrong with her at that moment. Sure, it had been quite a long time since she had seen such a handsome individual but at the same time, it didn't really excuse her down right inappropriate response to him. She looked down at her lab book and angrily shoved a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She was fully prepared to apologize for staring when she looked up, but she found him in his seat simply…staring at her.

His green eyes were like emeralds that cut right through her and her heart fluttered in her chest for a few moments before she sucked in a deep breath. He continued to stare, his demeanor calm and cool. It was unnerving to say the least and any idea she had had of apologizing disappeared. Instead, she found herself getting slightly irritated at his refusal to speak. The way he held himself told her that he was definitely not headed down the scientist path. He was by no means socially inept or awkward.

But still he refused to speak.


	2. Chapter 2

**New Summary: College student Beth really didn't need the supernatural to add to her list of things to worry about but when Derek Hale, who had apparently been in her biology class all semester, becomes her new lab partner, it's almost inevitable.**

Beth felt a familiar flare of anger in her bones. The initial shock of seeing such a beautiful human being was starting to wear off and she was being left with her original feelings of the day: anger, sadness, and annoyance.

This time when her heart beat picked up it wasn't because of attraction. It was because she gearing up for a fight.

"Listen," she started as she began drumming her pen on her notebook. "The last thing I need is to sit here and do the work for the both of us. So either you can start communicating with your mouth, because I can't read minds, or we can work separately and leave when we're done."

When she was done with her rant, she abruptly stopped hammering her pen against her notebook. She shoved her bangs off her face before looking up at him. He still had the same blank look on his face as if he hadn't heard a word she had just said. She raised a single eyebrow at him, silently asking him if this was how it was going to be.

A few seconds later, he reached out and pulled his duffle bag towards him. At first, she thought he was going to pack up and just leave her hanging, Professor Lee be damned. But instead, he unzipped his bag and blindly reached a hand in. He rifled around for a bit before pulling out a notebook and dropped it on the table in front of himself. He flipped it open and when he had found the page he was looking for, he pushed the notebook towards her and then looked up again.

"I did it during class."

A few things surprised her at that moment. Number 1: his voice was like velvet or silk. It was like one of those materials that gave you goosebumps whenever it moved over your skin. It literally made her shiver at how delicious it sounded.

Once she had gotten over the initial shock of hearing him _finally_ speak, she realized she hadn't seen him in class tonight or any night for that matter. And that really puzzled her. Professor Lee knew whom he was which meant he definitely wasn't in the wrong place but how could he have gone almost half a semester without being seen? To put it simply, it was odd.

And the last thing that seemed to register with her confused mind, was that he was giving her the answers to _all_ of the pre-lab questions. He had finished them in class while Lee was lecturing and just handing them over for her to copy.

She quickly skimmed his answers. His handwriting was small and messy. The only thing she could think to compare it to was doctors' messy handwriting her and the other nurses were always complaining about having to decipher. As she quickly read through what he had written, she noticed that the first three answers he had were the same as the ones she had finished in the first fifteen minutes of the lab period. Still, the three correct answers were enough for her to know he knew what he was doing.

When she looked back up at him to ask him _why _he was so free to just share all his hard work with her, Beth found him staring again. All the staring he had done in the last ten minutes made her not so apologetic about the staring she had done earlier.

"I can't-I can't accept these. I really don't like to copy."

It was a lie. What college student didn't like to copy? Hell, if she could, she would copy every single answer for every piece of homework she had ever been given. It would save a lot of time, especially when it came to biology classes like this one.

"Why?" He was blunt and he was raising that damn eyebrow at her again.

She had a fleeting thought of waxing it off before she made her mind return to the task at hand.

"You've had a rough day. Just copy the answers and we can both get out of here and enjoy the rest of our evenings." He brought a hand up and shoved his notebook closer to her.

How in the hell had he known she had had a rough day? Was it just the way she acted? Was she really being that bitchy? Suddenly she felt horrible again. More than a few of her friends from back home and college had told her she suffered from bitchy resting face. They said the face she wore naturally during the day was so intimidating, that it made it almost impossible for strangers to approach her. One friend had even gone as far as telling Beth her bitchy resting face was the reason she never got any guys. She wondered if her bitchy resting face was intimidating the mysterious Mr. Hale, but at the same time she thought he was way beyond being intimidated by the likes of her. Not only was he ripped in the muscle department, but he also had the aloof, devil may care attitude down pat. Besides, he was pretty intimidating himself the way he did nothing but stare.

"She's not being too hard on you is she, Derek?"

The sound of Professor Lee's voice interrupted her internal monologue and she jumped. She swung her head to the right where Professor Lee was standing at the end of the table next to Mr. Hale, Derek.

"I know her attitude can be quite intimidating but once you peel back the layers she's quite a marshmallow underneath. I assure you."

She groaned. Little comments like that were definitely a draw back of taking smoke breaks with your professor.

She didn't really expect Derek to answer. She really she just expected him to stare at Professor Lee until Lee decided to move on to harass the next group. But she was pleasantly surprised when Derek actually gave Lee a thousand-watt smile.

And Derek's smile was almost as disarming as his muscles.

"Not at all," Derek answered smoothly, as if the two were old friends. "I understand she's had a tough day." Derek turned to nod at her and her mouth fell open in a gap. "I was actually just suggesting she copy my answers down so she can go home and get some rest."

Her mouth fell open even more. Was this guy seriously admitting to their professor that he was suggesting she cheat off of him? At that moment, Beth decided Derek Hale had a pair of brass ones, big brass ones.

Just as she started to open her mouth and tell Professor Lee that she was going to do no such thing, Professor Lee interrupted her with a large smile of his own.

"Excellent idea, Derek!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" She said under her breath. She shook her head at the pair of them. Professor Lee had always been cool, but she had never pegged him as that type of professor. Did Derek have some kind of sway over their professor she didn't know about?

"Don't worry about it, Beth," Professor Lee continued. "They're just pre-lab questions. I know you understand the lab so there's no need for you to waste the time. Besides, I know you're on call at the hospital tomorrow. You should get some rest in while you can."

Another draw back of getting to know your professor. Beth had talked to him so much about work, that he had caught onto her schedule, which consisted of Friday's on call. That meant the hospital could call her in at any time no matter what she was doing. It wasn't really typical of a hospital but because Beth didn't have any classes or a shift at the hospital on Friday, she had told them to call her if they needed her. She would gladly take the hours if they could afford to give them.

"Do you work a desk job at the hospital or something?" Derek asked. His voice was almost sickly sweet and almost immediately she caught on that he was only really speaking because Professor Lee was around. Derek didn't _actually _care about her life or what she did when she wasn't in class.

Regardless, she tried to hold back a sneer. It was a common thought that just because she was a college student, she couldn't have a job of significance at the hospital.

Just as she opened her mouth to clue Mr. Hale in on the fact, Professor Lee caught her off again.

"Beth is a certified nursing assistant." Professor Lee crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the lab table. It was a sure sign that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. "I keep trying to convince her to go on to be a physician's assistant or a doctor but she's determined that a nursing degree is for her." Professor Lee smiled down at her and she tried to smile back.

Dear lord! She probably looked like the biggest brown-noser to Derek. Professor Lee knew almost too much about her.

"Beth," Professor Lee tried to regain her attention and she raised an eyebrow at him in question. "You should really get to know Derek. He had a job as an orderly at the hospital on the psych floor. His main focus is psychology but he's a biology minor like you. I think you two could learn a lot from each other.

_Hold the phone_, Beth's mind screamed at her. Was her professor trying to hook her up? What the hell was going on here! Lee was basically shoving them at each other under the pretense that they both had great minds. Granted, that was always a good start to attraction but she really didn't like the idea of Lee trying to get her romantically involved with someone.

A tense silence seemed to settle over the three and Beth wondered if Derek was thinking the same thing as she was or if maybe she had taken the whole thing out of context. Lee, however, was staring down at the two expectantly. Almost as if he was thinking they would fall in love on the spot.

"Umm…what do you plan to do with that?" She found the words pouring out of her mouth. She cursed herself. If she had kept quiet and just put her dead to work, Lee probably would have left them alone. Unfortunately though, she often found herself cracking her social pressure no matter how much she liked to think she was a social butterfly.

"Social work," was the curt reply.

Immediately she thought there must be more to the story but Derek wasn't sharing and she wasn't about to ask. His facial expression and the way his shoulders had suddenly tightened, made her think he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Well," Professor Lee announced, "I'll leave you to it. Feel free to be each others' permanent lab partners. Just let me know if you decide to switch so I can inform the others."

He left as abruptly as he'd shown up and Beth found herself dropped her head in mortification.

"Teacher's pet?"

She turned towards Derek at the sound of a smile in his voice. It was small and nothing like the one had had given Lee, but it was still good enough to melt her heart a little. And she didn't even know this guy!

His smile was also contagious, as she found herself smiling softly back at him. "We both smoke," she mumbled in a way of explanation. "So we run into each other a lot on campus. Not a lot of designated smoking areas, you know." She rushed on with her explanation when she realized it could have been taken in several different ways.

"You shouldn't smoke." She should have known that was response he would give. "It'll kill you."

"Thanks," she snarked as she turned back to her notebook and his answers. "Like I didn't know that from the commercials, the laws, the warning on the pack, and the radio ads."

She could have sworn he chuckled beside her but the breathy noise was gone as quickly as it had started.

The next day found Beth taking the elevator in the hospital up to the psych floor. Her and Derek had agreed that she just take the answers home with her so neither of them had to waste any more time in the lab room. He had told her before they parted ways that he worked the next day and she could just drop the answers off with the nurse at the front desk.

As the elevator climbed higher, she grew more nervous. She twisted her fingers around the extra fabric of her scrub shirt as she looked up at the glowing number that told her what floor she was passing. She had never been up to the psych ward. She had never had to go up for a patient or take a patient down. She had been lucky according to the other nurses but Beth was convinced it was because they saved all the psych ward patients for the more experienced nurses. She didn't know if it was true or not, but that's what she told herself to quell the fear of having to go up.

Much like death, she had never experienced insanity or any degree of it. Sure, her mother took medication for depression but these days who didn't? The thought of insanity and insane people, scared Beth. She knew the fear was mostly unfounded because not everyone on the psych floor was clinically insane, but Beth still couldn't shake the irrational fear.

The hand that wasn't twisting her scrub shirt into knots was holding Derek's pre-lab answers. She had stuck a post-it note to the piece of paper that said "Thanks for the answers! I really appreciated it! –Beth". She wasn't expecting to see him and really her goal was to hand them off and get back down to work as fast as possible. She really didn't want to spend her whole lunch break sweating in fear.

The elevator gave a loud 'ding' and then the door slowly parted. The psych floor looked exactly like the rest of the hospital except for the huge white double doors that had metal in front of what were usually windows and a shield of plastic surrounded the nurse's desk. Beth shivered just looking at it.

She took slow, small steps towards the middle-aged woman sitting behind it, as if walking any faster would draw unwanted attention from people who weren't even in sight. The only person she even saw was the nurse sitting behind desk, surround in plastic shielding.

"Ex-excuse me," she stuttered when she finally stopped in front of the desk. She kept her voice low, so as not to disturb anyone.

"Yes, dear, what can I help you with?" The nurse smiled brightly at her and it put Beth's fear at ease, if only a little bit.

"I'm just hear to drop this off for Derek Hale. We're in the same biology class." Beth held up the piece of paper in her hand and waved it back and forth slowly. Her eyes alternated between looking at the nurse and watching the huge, ominous double doors wearily.

The nurse seemed to be laughing at Beth from her perch.

"Oh!" She exclaimed as her smile grew wider. "Derek Hale! Such a nice young man," she started to gush. "He's on break right now. If you turn around and go past the elevator and go to the first door on your right, he'll be in there. It's an employee break room, honey." The woman's honey-colored curls bounced as she nodded her.

Beth couldn't help but think the woman was entirely too happy to be on this floor but she smiled back at her before turning on her heel. She hadn't exactly expected having to take the paper to Derek herself but at least she had caught him on break and could make sure it got back to him. She knew she would feel awful if the answers got lost somewhere.

As she walked past the elevators, she tried her hardest to make sure her Puma tennis shoes didn't squeak on the white tile floor. She hoped, as she moved, that she didn't look too stupid but she found the squeaking noise to be quite annoying and whenever possible tried to make sure she didn't have to hear it.

She turned to her right after the elevators and found the break room right where the nurse said it would be. She cautiously stuck out a hand and turned the knob. Instead of going completely in, she opened the door as little as possible and instead just stuck her head in. She really didn't want to hear it if she interrupted some doctor on his break. Some of them got really touchy about it.

But, to her relief, she only saw Derek sitting in the break room. He had what looked like a Subway sandwich sitting next to a rather large textbook and he was hunched over them both, reading and eating at the same time. She was struck by how much this complete stranger was actually like her.

"Knock, knock," she said softly as she pulled the rest of her body through the door.

Derek didn't immediately look up but instead seemed to finish the paragraph he had been reading before her arrival. When his sharp green eyes fell on her, she thought she saw recognition flash through them.

"I just came to drop this off," she explained, waving the paper in the air like she had in front of the nurse. She thought better of it a few seconds later and quickly dropped her hand. It seemed like today, when she was finally in a better mood, her brain was going to cease all functioning in front of Derek, leaving her to be utterly embarrassed.

"Did you check the answers?" He didn't get up. Instead, he motioned to the plastic chair across from him, silently telling her to take a seat. She hesitated for a few seconds and then finally moved towards the table. The chair legs made a loud scraping noise as she pulled the chair out from under the table and she visibly winced. After she had all but thrown herself in the chair, she looked up to meet his gaze hesitantly.

"I trust you," she whispered, as she once again found herself getting lost in his green eyes. Her heart began the familiar dance it had done the first time she had laid eyes on him and unconsciously she brought a hand up to rest over her breastbone. It was only after a few deep breathes that she realized how bad what she had just said sounded. "I mean," she stuttered, "I trust your answers. You seem like a pretty smart guy…" she trailed off before she could dig herself an even deeper whole.

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the follows guys! I can't really complain about not getting many reviews because I've also been known to follow a story and not leave a review. But, if Derek seems out of character or if I get something wrong about Teen Wolf, please let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

Derek didn't grace her with a response. He only quirked an eyebrow and then turned back to the book in front of him. Beth was left in an awkward silence as she watched Derek's eyes moved over the pages in front of him. Her fingers began a steady drum on the table before she realized what she was doing and clasped her hands in front of her.

After about another minute of silence, she slowly got to her feet.

"Well," she said lowly, "I'm going to go. This place…creeps me out." She unclasped her hands and moved towards the door. She still had time left on her lunch break and if she hurried she could make it down to lunchroom to grab a bite to eat.

"I'll walk you out," he slammed his book closed. As he moved around the table, Beth realized for the first time that he was wearing all white. She was instantly reminded of a movie and found herself realizing she had always assumed movies just made things up. But as Derek crossed in front of her and the cologne and heat of him passed her, her thoughts were swept away. She was instead caught up in the mystery that was Derek Hale. About a minute ago, he had ceased all conversation between them, as if he didn't even want her around, but when she had said she would leave, he jumped at the chance to walk her out.

What was he playing at? His mood swings were giving her whiplash.

He strode to the door in two large steps and she had to follow quickly behind him. When he held the door open for her, she nodded at him but hesitate to enter the hallway, suddenly struck by the familiar sense of doom she had first felt when stepping off the elevator and onto the floor. She felt a slight pressure on her back and she turned her head to look behind. Derek was looking at her expectantly with a hand on the small of her back, trying to ease her forward. She obliged, almost tripping on her own feet as she finally passed the doorway and entered the hallway. He closed the door behind him silently and then started to walk in the direction of the elevators. He didn't even pause to see her following.

As once again the awkward silence fell over them, she quickened her steps to catch up with him. When they were finally shoulder to shoulder (almost), she gestured around them. "So you like all this?" She asked, as her eyes took in the surrounding white walls once again.

"Yeah, I do," his answer was short and curt. Clearly meaning that he didn't want to speak any further on the subject. His whole face had even darkened at the question and his eyebrows furrowed.

She nodded slowly.

"And you like all the blood and gore?" He asked suddenly, almost pausing in his steps as he turned his head to look down at her.

Whiplash. She was going to have to see a doctor with the whiplash he was giving her.

"I don't like it," she said, her tone a little more harsh than she would have liked. "It's not like I get off on seeing people bleed or seeing them hurt." She blushed at her own words. If only he knew what she could get off on…

"I like helping people," she clarified, if only to get her mind off of Derek Hale. "I don't believe all that one man for himself bullshit." She snarled at the air in front of her at the thought. "If we can help others, we should."

"What gave you that idea?" He snapped before abruptly coming to a halt in front of the elevators.

"I don't know," she whispered. Her own brow furrowed this time. Why did he sound so harsh at the idea of helping other people?

"So I guess you've never had to experience every man for himself." It was a statement and it was bitter. Derek was bitter. Beth realized then that she had once again encroached on the topic that Derek Hale did not want to discuss or even think about. She hadn't done it intentionally but she'd done it.

And even though she felt bad about, for maybe about five second, she was angry that he was trying to force his bitterness off onto her.

"No," she said slowly, purposefully catching him in the eye for the first time that night. "I haven't." She stepped closer to him for some reason, without even thinking about. So close she could feel the heat coming from his crossed arms and see the barely noticeable wrinkles in his white shirt. "But one day, I'd like to think that someone I've helped, will do the same for me when the situation calls for it."

The elevator dinged and she turned away from him, not only ready to leave but trying to hide the flush of anger that fell over her cheeks. As she stepped forward to get on the elevator, Mr. Hale had to have the last word.

"You have too much faith in humanity," he said lowly. His arms were still crossed over his chest, but the darkness that had been in his face had lifted to an icy glare.

Derek Hale was lounging in the sun. And he looked _happy_. Beth would have never put those two things together with Derek, but it was happening right before her eyes. Sure, he looked out of place there, sprawled out with a book, but he was there. His muscle tone and over all cool appearance suggested he should have been playing football all of the rest of the guys on the other end of college mall. But no. He was laying on the grass with a book in his hands, the sun beating down on him.

It was a breezy day but warm by New York standards and all of the students who weren't in class, were outside congregating and enjoying the nice weather that was finally gracing them. Beth was no different and after going on a run that morning, she had been called by the Henderson's, the family she dog sat for. They informed her that the kids were at their grandmother's and they had gotten stuck in the city after an impromptu romantic getaway to the city. She had smiled at the thought. She had wished many times over that one day she would have a relationship just like the Henderson's. That had apologetically asked if she could take time out of her day to take care of their Alaskan malamute, Snowball.

Their children had affectionately named the dog when he was a puppy but had long since grown out of his all white puppy fur. Now, Snowball stood at an intimidating two feet tall and about eighty pounds. His temperament, though, was amazing. Anyone strangers who stopped to pet Snowball always commented on how beautiful and nice he was. Anyone could tell he had grown into a full size dog with two small children around. The dog had more patience than Beth did.

Beth had stopped half way to her destination when she had set eyes on Derek and now, she slowly began to back away. He looked so peaceful and she was almost positive she would ruin it. He struck her as the type of person that didn't feel happy very often and the way he acted towards her, she would definitely ruin his good day. So instead of the usual spot Beth took Snowball to play, she chose a span of grace a safe distance away from both Derek and the group of college guys playing football. Hopefully this way, Snowball wouldn't try and go after the football, and Derek wouldn't see her.

She barely had to bend down to unsnap the leash from Snowball's collar. He stood excitedly by her side, huffing as he waited for her to get rid of the leash so he could finally run free.

She laughed quietly as she finally got the thing to come free. She started to bend down to give him an affectionate pat but he was already taking off and she hadn't even thrown the tennis ball yet. She laughed louder and shook her head at the dog. She loved this place because she didn't have to worry about Snowball running off or trying to attack people.

In second the door had come back, huffing at her and trying to snatch the ball from her hand. She held it up, her arm waving it back and forth in the air. "You want it?" She asked, as she smiled down at him. He let out a small bark in the affirmative and she let the ball loose, throwing it as far and as hard as she could.

He raced off in the direction the ball was sure to fall in and she took in a small breath as she watched him.

He recovered it in under a minute but instead of racing back towards her for another throw, his eye had caught on something different and he began to race in a different direction, the ball still in his mouth. For a few seconds she was worried he was going to go after the football but then the malamute veered again in a different direction.

She watched curiously and by the time she realized he was headed in Derek's direction it was too late. She called his name, hoping he would forget whatever had caught his eye but to no avail.

She bit her lip as the dog slowed into jog and then, to her utter dismay, stopped in front of Derek Hale who looked like he was completely involved in his book. For a few seconds, the man didn't even look up, even as the dog got closer and started to shove his nose into the back of the book. She was sure Snowball was making it impossible for Derek to continue reading and started off in their direction.

As she drew closer, she called to the dog again, thinking maybe, just maybe, he would forget about the stranger and come to her instead. When it didn't work, she let herself break into a jog. She wanted this no doubt painful situation to be over as fast as possible.

"Yours?" Derek asked when she finally got close enough and then he slowly dropped the book onto the grass beside him. The aviators he wore kept her from deciding what kind of mood he was in.

"No," she said cautiously. "I dog sit…" she trailed off and waited until she was only a few feet away before she directed her attention to the creature who had put her in this situation. "Snowball, this man does not want to play fetch with you." She moved her hands to rest on her hips, anything to hide the uncomfortable feeling she was having.

"Snowball?" Derek's voice was a mix between amusement and surprise. He turned to the dog and then finally he reached out a calloused hand and began to stroke the malamute. "Who would give such a stupid name to such a beautiful dog?" He asked.

Beth actually found herself cracking a smile and giving a small laugh. It was exactly what she had thought when she had been told the giant dog's name.

"Kids," she laughed. She took another step closer, almost subconsciously and enjoyed the way Derek began to show Snowball some affection. It started with a scratch behind the ear but Snowball fidgeted and huffed at him, Derek began to pet his head and down into his back, occasionally giving the dog a fond pat on the stomach.

"So you babysit the dog and not the kids?" He asked with amusement after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

Beth had been enjoying the interaction between man and dog and had even snuck a peak at the book Derek was reading. To her surprise, it was an old, battered copy of Great Expectation. Personally, she wasn't too fond of the book but she knew some people actually found it interesting.

When he spoke, she was pulled from her thoughts and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She found it immensely funny that a dog could get Derek Hale to open up and actually start having a conversation with her.

"I would much rather babysit the dog," she answered. "I like kids but only in small doses and when they're not in my care." She chuckled softly and began fidgeting with the leash in her hands. Her answer had made his brow furrow above his sunglasses and she wondered what he was thinking about.

"I like kids." It was almost a whisper, so soft she barely even caught it. Derek's hand was still running over Snowball's back but it looked like his thoughts were far away.

"Derek!"

Beth startled and turned. She hadn't even thought that maybe he might be meeting someone. Or really that he had many friends at all. His cold attitude gave her bitchy resting face a run for its money.

The voice had snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned to search the area for the woman who had called his name. Beth watched him until his eyes fell on someone in particular and then she followed his gaze.

The woman approaching was beautiful. The way the wind was blowing her long brown hair, it made her look like she had just stepped out of a movie. She was wearing sunglasses almost identical to Derek's.

Beth was struck by a sense of jealousy, although she wasn't really sure why. She had no idea who this woman was and what relationship she shared with Derek. The possibilities were endless and yet Beth's stomach had dropped to her feet and her heart had begun to pound.

"Laura," Derek called back. He didn't both to raise a hand to wave at the approaching woman. Instead, he kept stroking Snowball's back.

As the woman continued to approach, Beth noticed her flawless, tan skin and found herself wanting to retreat as soon as possible.

"We should get going," she said quietly, as she scoffed her shoe at the dirt below her. She turned back to Snowball and called his name softly. She got no response. Instead, Snowball had fixed his gaze on the woman and to Beth's surprise, his fur was raised and tussled. With every step the woman took, Snowball seemed to be more and more agitated. Beth tried calling his name again but still got no response. As she was about to approach him, Snowball made his move. The large dog was on his feet in seconds and she called his name more forcefully. His canines were bared and a nasty grown came from deep in the dog's throat.

Before Beth even thought about moving, Snowball put a paw forward and then another. The dog was completely ready to break into a sprint to attack the unknown woman. Horror engulfed Beth as her mind tried to come up with a way to deter Snowball from probably killing a defenseless woman. Beth had tried to break into a run to catch the angered dog but thankfully a hand shot out and latched onto the dog's collar.

Snowball was yanked back and his snarl quickly turned into a yelp of surprise as Derek pulled the dog around and under submission.


End file.
